


Just a Boy

by monstermasks



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Derek "Nursey" Nurse is Unchill, Drabble, Introspection, M/M, Pre-Slash, Soft Hockey Boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 15:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14499801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstermasks/pseuds/monstermasks
Summary: The first afternoon of their impromptu vacation to Maine, from where he’s slumped and indolent under the influence of sun and sea, Dex says, “God I missed this.”Just a little drabble about Dex and Nursey by the sea





	Just a Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this in under 20 min instead of studying... pls lower yours expectations hahaha
> 
> EDIT: Wrote this in under 20 min... and then came back and edited forever because wow so many mistakes

The first afternoon of their impromptu vacation to Maine, from where he’s slumped and indolent under the influence of sun and sea, Dex says, “God I missed this.”

“Maine?” Derek asks and thinks furiously to himself ‘ _do not be judgemental, do_ not _be judgemental’._ Dex is allowed to have sentimental feelings about his own goddam hometown, even if it _is_ tiny and sleepy and casually racist and everything Derek hates.

“Fuck no, I couldn’t wait to get out of here,” ‘ _Oh thank God’_ Derek thinks. “No, I meant the ocean.” And yeah, ok, that makes a lot more sense.

Derek remembers the way all the air had rushed out of Dex when they’d rounded that last corner and the endless blue ocean had suddenly swallowed the horizon. How the first full breath of sea air had seemed the blunt all of Dex’s sharp edges; weapons disarmed and defences lowered. Now, sitting on some abandoned jetty, Dex’s shoulders are more relaxed than Derek’s ever seen them, ever even knew they could be.

Seaside Dex is an entirely different beast, Derek muses. He is slumped back against the boards of the jetty, feet bare and pale against the old wood and face tilted back towards the sun. His freckles are a  _legion_ , and every time Derek spots a new one the word 'sun-kissed' pops into his head. Every single one of his eyelashes seems to have been lined in gold; even the fine hair on his forearms shimmers in the sun like Dex’s whole body has been gilded with loving brushstrokes. ‘ _Crafted from precious metal by worshipful hands_ ’, Derek thinks and then immediately wants to strangle himself. When even Dex’s fucking _arm hair_ draws a strain of poetry from him a line has been crossed. He must make some kind of (disgusted) noise because Dex half-opens his eyes and tilts his head in Derek’s direction.

“Alright Nursey?”

“Yup, chill.” Derek manages to choke out, mind overtaken with molten eyes and a warmth that could seep into his bones, that could raze him to the ground if he lets it. Dex flashes him a heart-breaker’s grin that Derek has never, ever seen before and closes his eyes again, face tilting back towards the sun. Derek silently says goodbye to his self-respect and lets his own eyes slide shut, content for now to laze in the sun and dream about gold-touched seaside deities, salt-sharp as ocean waves.

“I could stay here forever,” Dex mumbles beside him, not a god at all but a jumbled pile of too-long limbs with the barest hint of sunburn creeping across his nose. ‘ _Just a boy’,_ Derek thinks, _‘just a boy_ _without a spec of gold to be seen anywhere_ ’.

“Me too,” Derek says, and means it with every part of his already lost heart.


End file.
